Thomas Cook - (Tour Operators in Zante)

Andy H  (18 August 2003)         

Beware!!! If you arrive before 11am Thomas Cook will count it as one of your nights stay. We took off from UK at 00.30 and arrived at 07.30 and they said it was counted as us having the room for the day before!!
We were really disappointed by the lack of information that we got from Thomas Cook in the resort.
Beware of what is included in excursions. We booked an excursion to Olympia only to find out when we got there that entry to Olympia is not included in the cost of the trip to Olympia.
Thomas Cook's scuba diving trip really wasn't any good for qualified divers as they failed to let the dive centre know that anyone was qualified.
Make sure you know when you will get the coach back, we ended up having to phone the regional office, as there was a complete lack of info.
Our Thomas Cook rep didn't contact us when we raised concerns. Overall our view of Thomas Cook in resort has not been favorable, despite our positive experience of them in the travel agent shops.
Zakfaris is the one really good trip we experienced. We definately recomend that.

Zakfari Jeep Safari - (Zante Excursions)

Andy H  (18 August 2003)         

'Noisy Michael' day
This trip is a must for anyone that wants to see the island in a day.
The guide who explained everything to us was excellent for the job... Informative, knowledgeable, funny, sensible, safety conscious, ENGLISH SPEAKING.
Just remember to take water, sun cream and swimming costume and you should be guaranteed a superb day out.
Even the smells at the end of the day were good.
THANK YOU!

Day trip to Olympia - (Zante Excursions)

Andy H           

If you do this trip, don't do it with Thomas Cook!
The English rep wasn't interested in us as clients and was appaling!
What Thomas Cook failed to tell us is that, although you have paid to go to Olympia, you have to pay an extra 6 euro each to get in when you get there and you have to pay an extra 2 euro to get into the Olympic museum. Both are parts of the trip which you need to do, but Thomas Cook failed to tell us.
The trip is well worth doing and remember to take a camera.

Contessina Hotel - (Accommodation in Tsilivi)

Andy H           

This hotel was basic, but the staff are very helpful and it is very clean.
Beware if you are wit Thomas Cook though... We took off from UK at 00.30 and arrived at 07.30 (on-time) and they charged us for the night before at the hotel, because we booked in before 11am!!!
In our opinion, if you can use the hotel with another operator it would be worth doing.

St Nickolas Beach Diving School - (Diving in Zante)

Andy H           

This did not appear to be set up for experienced divers...
My partner had a good try dive and enjoyed it thoroughly, the problem is that I may now have to get her trained up in the UK.
I didn't get a good dive though... (BSAC OWI) Thomas Cook failed to let the dive compay know that I was qualified and when we got there, there were so many try dives that they cancelled the qualified dives for the day.
This was my only chance to dive on the holiday, so I dived to 3.8m with a dive time of 13minutes...
If you are qualified, try to contact the dive centre yourself, before you arrive or you may not get wet at all!